Tis the Season

As you can see we do things a little different in my family. I still think I’m like most people, in the sense that I’m pro-giving… the problem is that I don’t always have a lot of money to give. Sure I try to give at least 10% of what I earn, but living in one of the most expensive cities in the country makes it a little tough at times.

Being Christmas and all, I’ve been thinking a lot about other ways to give besides just simply writing another check or volunteering. I know I know volunteering your time is one of the most rewarding things a person can do, and yes I am pro-volunteering too; however, I travel so much I can’t set a regular volunteering schedule. So I’ve come up with the broke, busy guys guide to changing the world!

5) Locksforlove.com – that’s right you donate your hair to charity. This goes to make wigs for sick children.
4) givethegiftofsight.com – is a Web site that lets you donate your old glasses to people in need.
3) booksforsoldiers.com – donate your old books to soldiers oversees in Iraq and Afghanistan.
2) Saving leftovers from when I eat out so I can give them away to a homeless person that night
1) Preparing a small care package of food, water and small cleaning or medical supplies so that when I come across a person in need I can just give them the package.

I can't believe its fall

Wow, its really fall. Hard for me to believe because I travel so much my body can never really tell what season it should be. In the past month and a half I've been to NJ, NC twice, FL twice, CO and WV. I travel 2-3 weeks a month and all the change makes me really appreciate the smaller things like the changing leaves.




One of the things I've missed the most about the DC area is how amazing it is here in the fall. There is something about the brightly colored leaves and houses that line the streets of Capitol Hill. It makes me think God must be a Redskins fan because the leaves seem to match the skins colors perfectly.


The American Planners Association named Capitol Hill one of the top ten neighborhoods in the country to live in. I didn't realize that when I moved here but I love being able to walk to the eastern market, union station, the capitol or even work.

My track records says I probably won't live here for long, so for the time being Capitol Hill is a great place to live… when I’m here that is.

Pic Updates

Rosia just developed some film from this summer so here's a random mix of pictures. Some are DC, NYC, CO.

You can tell which pics are on the east coast and which we are in CO by how clear or smoggy the sky is.

I’m now a Micro-Lender!

I’m reading Bill Clinton’s new book “Giving,” and one of the many things he talks about is a new web site that you may have already heard of, but totally blew me away, www.kiva.org.

Kiva is cool because it lets individuals make micro loans, starting at $25, to people in third world countries directly. You can browse profiles of people who need loans of any where from $500-$1,500 and read their stories. I made a $50 loan to a guy in Mexico who needs $1,200 to finish a construction project. This site bundles my small loan with that of other people across the web so that we can give people a real opportunity that they otherwise would never have. It’s remarkably simple, easy to do, and could have a real impact on poverty in the world today.

Kiva also collects the loan from recipients over the next year and will give out periodic updates on how their projects are going. While I personally am not concerned if my loan ever gets paid back I do recognize the sense of self worth and pride that comes from paying back a loan verses taking a hand out.

So last weekend I was in NC for work. I was in Greensboro, Biscoe and Charlotte and had a good time. I didn’t have time to visit my grandparents, which was a shame, or to take many pictures but here are a few.





The trip was good. Being on the road a lot can take a lot out of a person so one of the tricks I did on this trip was I went looking for opportunities to be of service. I didn’t have many but one thing I did was I saved my left-overs from the meals I ate there and left them for a homeless man who was sleeping on the bench near me. It was small simple act, but it really made my trip.

This was my first weekend in DC in a few weeks. Driving in DC is always a gamble and today I lost big. What is normally a 15 minute drive from DuPont Circle to Capitol Hill today took me an hour and 45 min. Being stuck in Saturday traffic is its own special form of hell and whatever I did to deserve it I’m sorry! For all the great things about living in DC driving is definitely not one of them. A new survey has DC traffic ranked 2nd in the country.

Birthday Mountain Adventure

I was in CO last weekend and Rosia and I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP is one of my favorite places on earth. It’s hard to think that me, or any of my problems, are all that important when I’m around the mountains. The photos from my phone don’t even come close to doing the views justice. PLEASE just go touch them for yourself!!!!

RMNP has the highest highway in the country with parts of it hitting over 12,000 feet. Once you get up over 11,000 feet you cross the tree line and enter the tundra where the air is so thin trees aren’t able to grow. Even though there are no trees there are lots of small shrubs that take hundreds of years to grow only a few inches.

On our way up the mountains we stopped off in Estes Park, which is a small town just outside of RMNP. Apparently its elk mating season because elk were out in full force.

I had never seen an elk before, but 47 of them decided to take a tour of Estes Park the same time we did. They took over a local golf course and we watched a bull defend his heard from a couple of young bucks.

I loved being back up in the mountains, and closer to nature but this time coming straight from sea level the altitude really worked me over. It didn't dampen my trip at all but it did give new meaning to the phrase dizzying heights for me. I guess my east coast roots are coming through.

FL Trip

One of the things that bothers me the most about living in DC is how everyone always asks “so what do you do for a living” right off the bat, like people are their jobs or something. So on my blog I will NOT be talking about what I do at all.

I will however share some pics here of a recent work trip that landed me in St. Petersburg FL.


I was lucky enough to have to go down to FL and even though I didn’t have time to hit the beach it was really nice just to be near the water and get away from the city.







I flew to Sarasota on 9/11 not really thinking about what day it was when I booked my flight. It didn't really hit me either until I got to National Airport and the memories of six years ago came flooding back. I guess I wasn't the only one with strong feelings about that day because the airport was empty. There was NO line at the security gate and only 8 people on my flight. I wish all of my flights could be that smooth, but it was proof that some things can never be forgotten.

I'm Ready 4 Sum FOOTBALL!!!

Words can not describe how excited I am about football this year. I know what you are thinking “aren’t you a Redskins fan… maybe you shouldn’t get your hopes up?” Whatever, the past is the past and at this exact moment the Redskins have just as much of chance as any other team.

On a more personal note, this will be the first time in over four years that I’ll be able to watch every single Redskins game and absolutely NOTHING will be able to peal me away from the TV come game time!

Over the past four years, I’ve been watching other teams play and it was entertaining, but it really wasn’t the same. It’s just hard to get excited about someone else’s team. I can’t say with any certainty where I will be living in a year and half, but for now it is great to be back with the home team. GO SKINS GO!

I'M BACK

I took most of 2007 off of my blog and now I’m back. A lot has changed. I’m now back in DC and working an amazing job that I wont talk about here. Needless to say I love it and it is very exciting.

I’m living now in DC near eastern market and union station. I’m also really glad to be back close to my family and old friends. Here are a few pics I’ve taken so far.